To CD-Returners and successful maintainers.

Why did you gain back the weight after you lost it with CD ? Was it because you didnt finish the "maintenance" plans and went back to your old eating habits ? Or was it a different reason. I myself, lost 7 stones 2 years ago and unfortunately didnt do maintenance and didnt change my eating habits so have put most of it (if not all) back on again. Even though I love the quick losses on CD, I cant help thinking maybe WW or SW would be the way as they teach you how to eat properly (despite the very slow losses, compared to CD anyway) What are your thoughts ? Also, to anyone who has lost it and kept it off, do the "maintenance plans" really teach you how to eat properly ?

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IMO All diets work if followed to the letter(and the maintenence steps of CD are part of the diet) but if you don't change your attitude to food then you're going to regain weight. Guess the thing is with VLCD's that if you go from SS to "normal eating" then it will go on quicker than after WW.

Have you read Paul Mckennas "I can make you thin" Its got some really useful advice and techniques.

As for me, I got scared and never reached goal, put on a stone after loosing 4 then came back to CD.

I agree - people can give suggestions as how to eat poperly and this can be done during before and after weight loss, however the decision to eat properly and decide how this will work for you has to be you.

I have dieted on and off for years losing a couple of stones putting it back on losing again, for me it is about control. I have reallised that I have a choice what I put in my mouth and that I don't need to use food as a vice or substitute for anything else. It's up to me to want it, picture it, be happy with it and do it. Plus turning 40 this year has also spurred me on to just get on with it. Good Luck on the journey.

Also, to anyone who has lost it and kept it off, do the "maintenance plans" really teach you how to eat properly ?

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Ummm. Well for me it was much more than that.

First the scientific bit. Raising glycogen/water levels gradually so I didn't have a mad swing on the scales

Raising the metabolism back to near what it should be after dieting.

Then there was the head stuff. I had the intellectual understanding of healthy eating and what I needed to do already. After all, my boys had been brought up to eat properly and have a good relationship with food. I knew the answers. What I had to do was put it into real life for myself so that I could maintain forever.

Going up the plans helped me do this. It stopped me from doing a mad dash to the takeaway because I was at goal. It gave me some space to go from a VLCD where I didn't have to think, or eat come to that, gradually piecing it altogether bit by bit, in a very steady way, and giving me a little to think about.

I had made so many mistakes in the past, I couldn't risk it this time. For once I had to admit that I didn't always know what was best when it came to making food choices and control over food. The diet had actually worked very well. I had to put my trust in the rest of the plan.

My theory was that if after the VLCD part, I still had issues around food, then I would need to do it, and if I didn't have any issues, then it wouldn't be a problem to do anyway

So for me I had to do it to prove that I had dealt with it all, or do it to find where the troublesome spots were.

As it was, there were a lot of troublesome spots and I learnt more on the plans about myself than I ever did with the VLCD part, even thought the VLCD was a great learning curve.

Even so, the whole diet was the training ground, then maintenance the 'apprentiship'.

So no, I didn't learn much extra about the nutrition side, and only a little about portion sizes as I sort of knew that anyway, but I learnt much more about other things.

I think that anyone who decides not to do the plans because they really feel they've sorted it all out, should consider doing them...because if you have truly got it all sussed you'll fly through it with ease...so why not?

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